Can't Last Forever
by CosmicalMadison
Summary: They know it can't last forever, but they'll enjoy it while they can. 10 drabbles written with the iTunes challenge. 10Rose, Rose/Mickey.


_Title:_ Can't Last Forever  
_Author:_ CosmicalMadison  
_Summary_: 10 angsty drabbles written with the iTunes challenge. 10Rose, Rose/Mickey  
_Rating:_ K+  
_Genre:_ Romance, angst  
_Pairing:_ 10Rose, Rose/Mickey  
_Author's Note:_ These were written with the iTunes challenge, which I heard about from PellMell.  
1. Pick a character, pairing, or fandom you like.  
2. Turn on your iPod and put it on shuffle.  
3. Write a drabble related to each song that plays. You only have the time frame of the song to finish the drabble; you start when the song starts, and stop when it's over.  
4. Do ten, then post them.

* * *

**1. "I Told You So" - by Randy Travis**

Of course Rose loves the Doctor, but she also understands that there is no way they can be together. He will live virtually forever, and in only a short hundred years or so, she will be gone.

She understands, and so does he, that she is better off with Mickey. They were great together, she truly loved him before the Doctor showed up. Now she will go back to her old boyfriend.

But there's only one problem. She hurt Mickey terribly by going off with the Doctor and leaving him back on Earth like he was no one. When she is ready to go back, will he take her? She hopes she hasn't destroyed their relationship completely, that it is still salvageable.

If she has no one, there is truly no reason to go on.

**2. "I Try" - by Macy Gray**

She goes to him at night, as often as she can, to show him how she loves him. They make love passionately, but all the time he is telling her that they cannot stay together forever. She tells him she understands, but inside she denies it.

When she leaves, she holds her tears until she is out of his sight. She knows she can never go on without him. She wants to stay his forever, have him touch her and hold her until the end of time.

When she returns to her own room and finally cries herself to sleep, she dreams of them together. She dreams she is one of his kind, that they live together forever. They have many children, bring the Time Lords back all by themselves.

These dreams are all she has.

**3. "Something About the Way You Look Tonight" - by Elton John**

The Doctor doesn't like to think about what his life would be like without Rose Tyler, but sometimes he can't help it. He remembers life before her - traveling through time and space in the TARDIS all alone, how…_lonely_ it was.

And then she stepped into his life. All beautiful platinum blonde hair and toffee-brown eyes. She lit up the darkness, made him really feel his hearts beating again, brought the smile back to his face.

Just looking at her had changed him. And having him beside her every single day now made him the happiest he had ever been in his life.

Though he knew it couldn't last forever, he did his best to ignore that fact. A little time happy was so much better than being alone forever.

Hadn't someone once said it was better to have loved and lost…?

**4. "Don't Take the** **Girl" - by Tim McGraw**

The Doctor's hearts beat fast in his chest as he stood in front of the two rebels who held a gun to Rose's head. "All right, all right," he said quickly. "Let's just calm down for a moment."

"Doctor!" she cried, the fear in voice grating against his heart.

"Shut up!" the man commanded, pressing his gun farther into her temple. Rose winced, and the Doctor echoed the move.

"Please," he said to them, "I'll give you whatever you want, do whatever you want. Just don't harm her, please."

"Excellent," said the woman, a feral grin flashing across her face. "We hear you have a special gadget, a sonic screwdriver or something."

"Yes, of course. If you want that, fine. Here." He produced it from his pocket and held it out. It was a shame to lose the tool, but of course it was a no-brainer compared to Rose's safety. "Now let the girl go."

"Excellent!" The man grabbed the screwdriver, thrust Rose toward the Doctor, and the two scoundrels disappeared into a nearby alley.

The Doctor caught the girl in his arms and held her tight. "I'm so sorry," he whispered into her hair. He kissed the top of her head, thankful beyond belief that they had deigned not to harm her. "I should have been paying more attention, protecting you. That was my fault."

"No, no." She shook her head against his chest. "I'm f-fine."

"Let's just get back, shall we?" he wrapped a supporting arm around her waist and started to lead her back to the TARDIS.

**5. "You'll Fine Better Love" - by Tim McGraw**

He tries never to think about leaving her, but there are the inevitable nights. He lays alone on his bed and all he can see is her face floating above him, his beautiful Rose. He can't imagine going on without her, though he knows one day this time must come.

He knows his hearts will break when she is gone, but he wants her to stay happy. He knows if she is unhappy, it will be that much worse for him.

She'll find someone else. Everyone does. She may never forget him, but eventually she will move on. She'll find another man, and they'll live happily ever after.

Could it be the same for him? He doesn't think so. He's a Time Lord, after all, different. She was the only one for him, and there could never be another.

**6. "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" - by Green Day**

As a Time Lord, the last of the Time Lords, it makes sense that he is meant to be alone. He understands this, even if it hurts. He couldn't have stayed with Sarah Jane or Rose or Martha or Donna. All of them have to leave. They must live their fragile human lives on their own, to the best extent they can without him. He is not meant to be with them.

It's a hard life, but it can't be changed. He goes off in the TARDIS, visits different times and places, saves a few dozen worlds, but it feels like nothing. He wishes one of his own was left, to spent his time with. To be with forever. But, alas, that can never be, so he continues alone.

**7. "This is Your Life" - by Switchfoot**

It hurts her, of course, that she left Mickey, but she doesn't regret it. Had she stayed on Earth with him, in that pitiful little existence, she would never had met the Doctor, the real Doctor, the man she now loves and who loves her in return.

She would never have seen the wonderful things she has. The way his eyes sparkle when he's happy, or drying his tears when he's sad. Traveling to all those wonderful and not-so-wonderful times and places, helping him save countless worlds. Really _living_, doing something useful with her life even if she can't stay with him forever.

She never dreamed that any of this would be possible, but now she's been shown something more. She has left her old life behind, and she has no regrets. This is her life now, and she loves every moment of it.

**8. "Don't Rock the Jukebox" - by Alan Jackson**

He sits in some bar on some world, in a time he once visited with her. He sits slouched on the last stool in the corner, some strong drink he doesn't know the name of clenched in his hand. There's nothing else he can do, now that Rose is gone.

It feels as if his life has ended, though he still floats through it. He can do nothing else. His love, his lifeforce, is gone. She's never coming back, and neither is he.

**9. "We Danced" - by Christophe Dubois**

It's night in the TARDIS, and for once they're not running for their lives or trying to save someone else's. The Doctor stands at a consol, doing some kind of figuring. Rose comes up behind him, sees the sag of his shoulders, how tired he is. He's been working too much lately, as he always does. Who knows how long it's been since he slept or even sat down.

"Doctor?"

He turns, and it's there in his eyes - the exhaustion he is unwilling to share. She has to do something to cheer him up.

"Dance with me?"

"What?" He tilts his head, surprised by the sudden request. "Um…okay?"

She grins, runs back to her room, and grabs her iPod. She comes back and spends a moment finding a port it will connect to on the consol, and a moment later soft, slow music is wafting through the room.

He smiles at her and steps forward, placing one hand on her waist and the other on her shoulder. She places her hands on him, and they start.

From the first, it is like magic. Looking into his dark brown eyes makes her feel like she is floating, and it's a feeling she never wants to loose. Too soon the song ends, and a fast, poppy one takes it's place, but they are still swaying to the same rhythm.

Then he leans forward and kisses her, gently. She smiles against his lips, happier than she has ever been.

**10. "Friends in Low Places" - by DeWayne Blackwell**

(_AN:_ This fic assumes that Rose was returned to Earth and the Doctor has been traveling without her for a while.)

He never expected this. The TARDIS unexpectedly dropped him in the twenty-first century, just outside a large chapel in London. He is about to go back inside and reset the controls, but something catches his eyes A blonde woman in a white dress stepping in the door to the chapel - a familiar-looking woman.

His hearts stop. It can't be. _Rose…?_ Trying not to be noticed, he moves to the door and looks in. A wedding party mills about in the entrance. Bridesmaids in pink dresses, groomsman in suave black tuxes, and in a far corner, the center of attention, being fawned over by everyone, the bride, Rose Tyler.

He feels as if he has been punched in the stomach. Rose is getting married - and not to him. Of course he had hoped something like this would happen, that she would move on and find someone new, but he didn't anticipate these feelings. She isn't betraying him…he has to keep telling himself that. She is happy, glowing, and he has to feel happy for her because of it.

He turns with heavy hearts and returns to the TARDIS. "That was a funny trick," he tells her as he cranks a few levers and inputs some coordinates. "How about now we go somewhere _happy?"_


End file.
